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Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Welcome to my blog-series
of authors in Alberta. I’m happy to have you all take the time to answer my
questions. I’m also looking at whether writers think they’ve been born to write
or shaped into writers by their life experiences. Let’s see what their answers
reveal about them and theircharacters.

My featured author in this blog is Jenna Greene from Lethbridge, Alberta. Jenna teaches grade 6 at DA
Ferguson Middle School in Taber. She lives with her husband, Scott, and
daughter Olivia. They have two dogs: Tyko and Thor, Dog of Thunder.

Jenna has a YA fantasy series published with Champagne Books. The first is
titled IMAGINE. The sequel, is titled
REALITY and she is currently at work on the third book in the series. She also has a YA Contemporary called HEROINE. It was originally
published by Aspirations Publishing. When that company went out of business, she self-published Heroine.

1) Have you always thought you
might someday write a book? Or did you come to that decision as you got older?

That thought was always
there. When I was five years old, I wanted to be a fairy princess and a writer.
When I was in middle school, I wanted to be a teacher and a writer. When I was
in high school, I wanted to be a zoologist and a writer. As I got older and
started to make serious attempts at writing, I dabbled in poetry and short
stories, but never quite got the knack for it. In terms of writing, I was meant
to be a novelist.

2) As a result of you path to
publication, do you think writers are born or made? In other words, is it a
genetic based urge or do our lives shape us into writers?

Both! I’ve definitely got
the genetic urge. A grade one teacher told my mom I had skills as a writer and
that idea stuck. But if I hadn’t developed the right tools along the way –
education, love for reading – the path would have been a dead end.

3) You have two books with the
same main characters, Katharine and Becky. Do you more adventures planned for
these two?

I just wrote the first
draft of the third book in the series, and hope to start editing soon. In
total, I believe there will be four books sharing the adventures of Kat and
Becky.

4) You teach grade six,
something I did a number of years ago. Do your students read your books? And do
you use them as Beta Readers?

Interestingly enough, none
of my students read my novels when they’re in my class – but they do as soon as
they move on to the next grade. I have a plethora of grade 7, 8, and 9 students
who are currently exchanging copies of IMAGINE, and some high schoolers are
doing the same.

When there is time, I read
chapters to small groups of literacy students, or novel ideas to get feedback.

5) Do you have a favorite
character in your books? And if your books were turned into movies, who would
play that character?

My favourite characters are
the Brownies Alana and Petie. Writing them is hilarious. It’s like trying to
manage two hyper puppies. Casting for those two would be a tricky process but I
would love to find out who could play those parts.

Questions for fun only:

(You may add a brief comment if needed.)

Please answer yes or no. Have you ever:

1)Danced in
the rain? When do I stop?

2)Ridden a motorcycle
or a hot air balloon? Ridden a motorcycle – did not want to. Did not enjoy.

3)Jumped
out of a plane? I like riding in them. That is all.

4)Learned a
language other than English? Tried to learn French. Tried to learn Spanish.
Succeeded at neither.